The World around Us. Любинская Н.А. - 18 стр.

into video-lottery terminals. It is backed by another government agency, the
coroner’s office, which blames gambling for 71 suicides in the province between
1999 and 2001. More predictable, churches also rail against government’s em-
brace of gambling. They argue that Canadian Indians are the most hurt by the
casinos on their reservations. Pathological gambling is ten times more common
among Indian peoples than other Canadians. On and off the reserves, gambling
brings child poverty, stress, marital breakdown and crime, say its critics. They
include John Ralston Saul, a writer and the husband of Canada’s governor-
general, who has denounced “the state funding the public good by corrupting the
citizen”.
        But Canadians seem unmoved by these pleas to be protected from them-
selves. Canada West Foundation found that they placed gambling behind high-
way speeding in the hierarchy of social ills. Faced with a choice between more
gambling or higher taxes, more than three times as many plump for the first.
        Mr. Azmier reckons Canada has up to 1m problem-gamblers, but they are
invisible. “It doesn’t make you stumble. You don’t slur your speech. It can’t be
smelled on your breath,’ he says. As a result, Canadians are unaware of the so-
cial cost of government’s profitable love affair with gambling. Even if some
provinces have made gestures aimed at slowing the industry’s growth, the
amount transferred each year from the pockets of citizens to government coffers
is set to keep on climbing.
                                              (The Economist. 2005. September)

A.    Comprehension
I.    Find in the text words and expressions, matching the following definitions
1.    1.become four times bigger
2.    spend illegally the money of the company
3.    a lottery, a draw
4.    a case in law court accusing the whole corporation
5.    a consequence, an effect on smbd or smth
6.    to protest against smth strongly and angrily (2 words)
7.    an official who investigates cases of sudden suspicious death by holding an
       inquest
8.    to start a legal case in court against smbd in order to get a claim or a com-
       pensation
9.    an urgent emotional request
II.   Answer the following questions.
1.    Who benefits from gambling in Canada?
2.    What part of the population does gambling mostly effect?
3.    What statistical data does the author bring?
4.    What do Canadians themselves think about this problem?
5.    Is the author optimistic about the solution of the problem and if not, why?

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